What are you reading in 2026?

[Umbran]

Oh man, I love this idea. Bear’s fantasies are
Among his best work, to might taste, and looting them seems like a smart move.

Yeah. And especially, I am considering a game that explores the progress of a normal person who gets a call to adventure, is changed by adventure, and then comes back to normal life. And what does that mean for them.

So, like, Tam-lin, Thomas the Rhymer, Stardust, and other "normal human goes to elfland" stories.

 

[jian]

Just wondering, but: I mostly (only ?) saw 'fiction' mentioned in this thread, but really no 'non-fiction' at all ? Would that be a correct statement ? And slightly cheating here because I did not read the following in 2026, but I did enjoy at least these:

• a handful of Stephen Hawking's books (with at least the notable exception of the books co-authored with his daughter Lucy Hawking, which are aimed at children if I understand correctly)
• "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" by Neil deGrasse Tyson
• The "American Comic Book Chronicles" series from "TwoMorrows publishing"
• "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by "Siddhartha Mukherjee", which got a 2025 update which I am considering to buy even though I read the original.

And I still have a copy of "On the Origin of Time" (which I believe was co-authored by Stephen Hawking) waiting to be read.

Nah, quite a few nonfiction books have been mentioned/reviewed on this thread, I’d have said. I’ve mentioned a few.

 

[prabe]

Nah, quite a few nonfiction books have been mentioned/reviewed on this thread, I’d have said. I’ve mentioned a few.

I'm pretty sure I've read a couple after seeing what you've had to say about them.

 

[Autumnal]

Yeah. And especially, I am considering a game that explores the progress of a normal person who gets a call to adventure, is changed by adventure, and then comes back to normal life. And what does that mean for them.

So, like, Tam-lin, Thomas the Rhymer, Stardust, and other "normal human goes to elfland" stories.

Ahh, I love that. Have you read Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series of novellas? They’re set in and around a school for those who went to various fsntasylands and returned to Earth, and need to readjust and figure out how to live here and now after such experiences. Powerfully good stuff. There’s a shortage of comparably excellent stories about adults in the same situation, alas.

I'm pretty sure I've read a couple after seeing what you've had to say about them.

Me too. Jian has a gift for recommendations that work.

 

[Umbran]

Ahh, I love that. Have you read Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series of novellas?

Maybe some of them?

I have to admit that I prefer her music and poetry to her prose.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'm heading to Walla Walla tomorrow. There is a used bookstore there with about half the books sitting in boxes, where people have brought them in and left them. Ten percent chance I offer to buy the entire inventory, and ship it to Portland, Oregon to sell.... Fifty percent I just buy a few books. Forty I buy nothing, since you can't find things in half the store.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Maybe some of them?

I have to admit that I prefer her music and poetry to her prose.

TIL she has even published music and poetry...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

thestorygraph is where I'm currently tracking to-read and read.

But it's terrible for when I'm in a used bookstore to see what I already own.

So I recently downloaded my "graph" aka a csv of my stuff. Guess what - they don't have a column for author last name, just author name. So "Seanan McGuire" is in the Name column.

Not very user friendly, so I'm in the middle of cleaning and re-organizing that data to serve my purposes.

Four Lost Cities was a good read. Learned a lot about Cahokia, just in time for Coyote and Crow.

I've got another Newitz on my shelves, but I think it's fiction - the Terraformers.

Non-fiction I'm reading right now is The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. Enjoying the first chapter about apples and John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed.

 

[Umbran]

TIL she has even published music and poetry...

She was doing that before she was successful in fiction.

 

[Retros_x]

Well I guess you are right that on a TTRPG focused forum it would be more common for people to read fiction rather than nonfiction. Unsure if I agree on the "fiction is often quicker to read" part though. I personally can be just as engaged with a nonfiction book, especially if I find the subject matter interesting. Oh, well.

This thread is definitely for non-fiction too and several got recommended. I have not read a single non-fiction this year, which is a bit surprising for me. Usually around 20-30% of my reads are non-fiction. This year I just was not interested in any yet.

I also have to add that for me non-fiction takes much longer to read, because I read them to learn, not to entertain. Meaning I write down notes, chapter summaries, ask the text questions, track references, build connections to other texts I've read or do some practical exercises if its coding related. Basically I apply everything I learned during university years for how to read textbooks. Also I often don't track them in storygraph or here because many of my non-fiction are just specialty/scientific/technical books for my professional life. Not sure if people here are interested in my thoughts on Domain Driven Design or Software Architecture Patterns